coconut Archives - Compassionate Women

Creamy Vegan Coffee Milk

January 18, 2016 by Jillian Leave a Comment

The weird winter weather of southeast Texas is here to stay, well, at least through February. It includes frigid nights mixed with sunny warm days and bouts of rain ❄️☀️☔️ I’ve been craving warm foods like soup, sweet potato fries, gnocchi, and hot tea. Lately I’ve been buying vegan ramen from the health foods store and adding in mushrooms, cabbage, broccoli, and tofu. It’s so delicious 🍜👅

But for those random winter days that end up feeling more like spring (my Texas peeps know ✊) here’s a frothy, creamy, java induced recipe that is served cold and is the closest thing to heaven 😇

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Chocolate Sweet Potato Cake With Coconut Creme Fraiche

December 7, 2015 by Jillian Leave a Comment

Oh heyyy there, don’t mind me drooling/crying over this mouthwatering cake situation 😂 Maybe you’re thinking that I’ve finally lost my marbles because chocolate and sweet potato are two foods that you would never imagine mixing together. But wait! ✋ Let’s stop and think about this for a minute. After making the most delicious confections using beets as my secret ingredient (Fudgy Vegan Beet Cupcakes, Vegan S’mores Fudge Brownies, and Chocolate Chip Chia Beet Scones), I began to wonder what else I could bake using earthy root vegetables, because they make baked goods moist & amazing without tasting like earthy root vegetables.

Around this time I also began binge eating sweet potatoes in many forms, but mostly in the form of these Sweet Potato Fries with Magic Sauce. Let’s just take a minute and give sweet potatoes a shout out 👏💘😘🍠

What I came up with was a moist chocolate cake with a subtle sweetness, topped off with coconut creme fraiche and fresh mint 😍 You can thank me later.

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Berry & Herb Coconut Ice Cream Pops

July 14, 2015 by Jillian Leave a Comment

With all of the rain in central Texas these past few months, I ALMOST forgot it was summer. It hasn’t been it’s usual scorching self. And then my mom sent me some popsicle molds in my birthday package a few weeks ago and I finally got to use them this weekend – and oh yeah, it’s summer! Nothing screams summer like nice cold popsicles. But these are special popsicles. They are magical raw vegan popsicles. The coconut base is rich and creamy paired with frozen berries and fresh herbs. Toss in a little raw sugar to sweeten the deal and you’ve got homemade popsicles that are way better than anything store bought!

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My China Diet

April 29, 2015 by Jillian Leave a Comment

I just returned home to Texas after a six month stay in Beijing, where I was teaching English to little kids and cultivating my blog. Before I went, I imagined that being a vegan in China would be fairly easy. Even though China has adopted a more Westernized diet in recent years (lots of meat and dairy), I figured it would be pretty easy to find plant based dishes.

Boy was I wrong! All I ate the first two months I lived there was rice with vegetables because that’s all I could find in the way of vegan options. That got tiring after a while and didn’t give me an array of needed nutrients. Eating out was wreaking havoc on my digestive and immune systems because the quality of food is so low in China, plus they tend to over-do it with the oil. I was always sick, had headaches, couldn’t sleep well, and felt tired and light headed. I decided to stop eating out, get a blender and food processor, and make all of my meals at home. What a difference!

For anyone that plans on being abroad for an extended amount of time, here are some suggestions for quick, easy meals that are healthy and plant based.

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Steel Cut Oats Breakfast Cereal & Coconut Whipped Cream

July 21, 2014 by Jillian Leave a Comment

Welcome compassionate women (and men)! This is my first post on the blog and I thought I’d start with a recipe because I love to cook, and more importantly, I love to eat. Some people claim that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and should never be skipped. I’ve heard other nutritionists say that if you aren’t hungry in the morning, don’t force yourself to eat. I can see both sides, but me personally, I’m usually starving when I wake up. And sometimes finding a vegan and gluten free breakfast that is filling can be difficult.

Why vegan? Because animal protein causes a wide array of serious health issues and equally as important, animals must suffer for us to consume it. Why gluten free? Because gluten is a silent killer. It’s a substance that when consumed on a regular basis and over time, causes just as many health problems as animal protein. Gluten and animal protein are both inflammatory. When you’re body becomes inflamed, it causes everything from cancer to heart disease to diabetes to IBS to acne to everything in between to arise. It’s pretty crazy. The good news is, I have a healthy and delicious breakfast recipe to share with you all. There’s no animal protein and there’s no gluten. Just yummy, insanely nutritious plant based food. Plus, it’s quick and easy. Ready? Let’s get started!

One of the first foods I discovered several ago when I first decided to go vegan and gluten free was steel cut oats. They’ve been described as a tastier, heartier version of oatmeal. I’ve never been a fan of oatmeal, but I was hearing such rave reviews about steel cuts oats that I decided to give them a try. You can buy them in bulk at pretty much any natural foods store, as wells as bigger chains like Whole Foods and Central Market. I used to buy them at Austin’s largest grocery store chain HEB. They are stinkin’ cheap too. I eat steel cut oats practically every morning, and a month’s supply costs me less than $5. In fact, it probably cost me about $3. Can’t beat that. When I’m feeling organized, I like to transfer them from the plastic bag you put them in at the store to a mason jar, and then I store it in the fridge to improve freshness.

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